Oh its time for my third chapter of this story for all who like it. i must say I like writing this lily/james story and will like to say thank you for reviewing. lily and james will start dating in a couple of chapters and im thinking about adding a game of truth and dare but im not sure. Anyway please r&r

Chapter 3: Oops, Your Shoe's on Fire

Lily woke up early the next morning and began to get ready for her day with Diggory. Alice and Emmy helped her pick out an outfit and by half past eleven, she was ready to go.

She headed for the front doors and found Amos waiting for her with a blanket and a picnic basket. They walked out to a tree by the lake and Amos set up everything. Lily and Amos sat and chatted for a while about everything from Quidditch to life after Hogwarts. Lily had to admit; Amos was a bit boring.

Shortly into their picnic, odd things began to happen. Amos was attacked by ants, the food kept turning into little odd creatures, Amos' hair began changing colors and he also started speaking in various foreign languages.

Lily had her suspicions, but she kept them to herself for the moment. Whatever was going on was making the date considerably more enjoyable. Amos was frantically trying to make everything normal again, which just made Lily laugh harder as he was failing miserably.

A few yards away, hidden by the safety of the forest, Sirius and Remus were crouched low with their wands out. They were wreaking havoc on Lily and Amos and loving every minute of it.

"I don't know how I let you talk me into this!" Remus whispered.

Sirius clapped him on the back and said, "You are helping a very dear friend, while having a little fun."

"Yes, but if Lily thinks James has something to do with this, she will kill him."

"Not to worry mate. James knows nothing about this. He would kill me if he did. Besides she can't blame him if he's at Quidditch practice. Alice and Emmy also said they would take the blame. Lily is more likely not to be mad at them and they don't really favor Diggory. He's quite the horse's ass if you ask me."

Remus sighed and continued on with their date wrecking.

Amos was shinning with embarrassment, "Lily I don't know what's going on. I'm really sorry."

Lily stifled her laughs and replied, "Don't worry about it Amos. It was rather amusing."

"Well maybe we can try again next month at Hogsmeade?" Amos asked.

Lily replied, "That would be lovely. Now I need to go meet Alice and Emmy. I'll see you later."

Lily made her way to the common room at the same time James was coming in from practice.

"Hi Evans! Headed to the dorm?" James asked.

"Yeah. Want to walk with me?"

"Sure!" James said as he kept pace with her stride.
"What have you been up to?"

Lily laughed, "I just had the most peculiar date with Amos Diggory. Strange things were happening. Where have you been?"

"Practice. What do you mean strange things?"

Lily told James all about her date and when she was finished, James muttered, "I'll kill them!"

"Kill who, Potter?"

"Sirius and Remus. It had to be them. I told them to leave you alone but do they listen? I'm sorry Lily."

James really looked sorry too.

Lily laughed and said, "I'm not too upset. He was getting kind of boring. Besides I had a feeling a Marauder was behind it. Sirius did vow to get me back for dying his hair. I guess this means war."

James laughed. He considered Lily for a moment and asked, "So are you going to Hogsmeade next month?"

"Yeah. I agreed to go with Amos. Felt bad for him, he was really embarrassed today. I just hope he's not boring next time. What about you?"

"Oh I was going to ask someone, but they are seeing someone else. I don't know, maybe I'll just hang with the guys," James said disappointedly.

They reached the common room and James headed up to change. Lily called after him and when he turned around she said, "I'm technically not seeing Amos." She winked and turned away.

Lily meant what she said about not seeing Amos. Unfortunately, Amos Diggory was a bit clueless and believed he and Lily were an item. He followed Lily to every class and carried her books for her. He awkwardly tried many times to kiss her, only to have her turn away so he got a mouthful of hair. Lily decided to use it for all it was worth. 'He's the one who assumed I was his girlfriend. I never said I was,' Lily thought to herself.

She let Amos do her bidding and never said a word otherwise. Alice and Emmy knew the truth, but poor James thought he'd lost Lily to Amos. James spent most of his time sulking. He watched the interaction between Lily and Amos with a frown and believed Lily had lied to him. When he wasn't sulking or in class, he was complaining to the rest of the Marauders.

"I can't believe Lily would go for such a wanker. What's she even see in him? I mean really! He's a Hufflepuff, he's not that smart, he can't play Quidditch and he's an all around boring person. Lily needs someone fun and exciting. She has to be confounded!"

Sirius groaned and smacked James upside his head.

"James give it a rest already! There's no way Lily is interested in Amos Diggory. If you didn't notice, she doesn't even kiss him. Personally, I think she just likes having someone fawn over her. He follows her around like a puppy dog and does whatever she wants. He's way too excited about this weekend and it's Tuesday! You shouldn't mope around anyway. She told you she wasn't technically seeing him. He's probably too thick to notice!"

"Did you say it's Tuesday?" James asked.

"Uh yeah, but what the hell does that have to do with anything?"

"Sirius, Slughorn's party is tonight! She's going to be there! We have to go. Come on we're late!"

James dragged Sirius to Slughorn's office, where a group of teens were already congregated. James spotted Lily right away and made his way over to her.

"Hi Evans. Having fun?" James asked casually.

"Oh hello Potter. Not really. These parties are too- er- stuffy. I only come because Slughorn would die if his favorite potions student wasn't here. I always try to sneak out after awhile but Slughorn usually catches me. I've already tried once tonight, I was going for number two any minute now. Just waiting for Slughorn to become distracted."

"Well I can help you sneak out," James offered.

Lily raised an eyebrow and asked, "And how is that?"

James laughed, "Easy. Sirius and I are masters of distraction. You of all people should have realized that! Wait for me by the door."

James rushed off to Sirius and they had a brief whispered discussion. Sirius nodded and went to head off Slughorn. James joined Lily by the door and whispered, "Good thing you're short. Quick, get behind me."

Lily slipped behind James and asked, "What are we doing?"

"Wait for a second. When Sirius gives me the signal we can walk right out. Oh there we go. Come on, back up slowly and right out the door."

Sirius had just 'accidentally' set Slughorn's shoe on fire. James and Lily snuck quietly out into the corridor and quickly made their way as far from the party as possible. As soon as they were out of earshot, Lily doubled over laughing.

"I can't believe Sirius actually set the Professor's shoe on fire! How do you all always get away with this stuff?"

James smiled, "Well we don't always get away with it. That's why Sirius and I hold the record for most detentions ever. We are just charming enough to want around I guess. If we weren't, we would've been chucked out years ago!"

Lily and James made their way back to the dorms. The entire way back was filled with random conversation.

'Wow,' thought Lily, 'he's actually being normal. He's not showing off or bragging or ruffling his hair...oops spoke too soon. Him and his hair. Doesn't it ever lie flat? Oh well it is kind of cute ...EW Lily, James Potter is not cute! I think I've lost my mind...I keep associating words like cute, funny and handsome with James Potter! UGH! Please don't tell me I'm falling for him! He's a bigheaded slug who only cares about jokes, girls and Quittich. He has a fan club for Merlin's sake! I cannot like someone who has a fan-'

"Lily?"

Lily blushed a bit as she snapped back to reality. "Sorry James, just thinking. What were you saying?"

"Oh right. I was just saying that Dumbledore wanted to meet us sometime next week to go over some event around Christmas. Any idea what he's on about?"

"Christmas? Well no. I suppose we'll have to wait until next week to find out."

"Yeah. Well I guess I'll see you later, I've got an essay to finish," James said.

"Night Potter."

The first Hogsmeade trip arrived and Lily waited for Amos in the Entrance Hall. He finally found her.

"Ready to go?" He asked.

"Yeah sure," Lily replied, "Where are we going first?"

Amos led the way out of the castle, "How about a cup of coffee? We could head to that little shop in town."

"Oh alright then."

Lily followed Amos to Madam Puddifoot's and they found a table near the door. The shop was full of kissing couples and Lily groaned. She really did not want to kiss Diggory. In fact she planned on breaking off whatever he thought they had if he wasn't more interesting.

He began to drone on again about working with the Ministry of Magic, when suddenly his shoe caught fire. Lily stifled a laughed and looked around to see Sirius a few tables away with a girl named Jessi. She also noticed James was with them and he was with one of Jessi friends, Becca. Becca looked as bored as Lily and noticed that James was ignoring his date. Lily looked back to Amos to see him putting out the fire while his eyebrows were rapidly growing. Lily decided she had enough.

"Amos," Lily said.

Amos stopped what he was doing and gave Lily his attention.

"Well Amos. I don't think we're going to work. I think I'll be going now. Good luck with er, things."

Lily stood up and headed for the door. She passed Sirius and James on the way out and gave Sirius a little pat on the head. Amos made to follow her, but the moment he stood up, his robes attacked him and he was forced to untangle himself before moving.

James brightened up a little after witnessing this, but he continued to ignore his date.

Lily walked through the streets, enjoying the spot of unusual warm weather. She wove in and out of the crowd, lost in her own thoughts.

'What was he doing with that hag? Becca is not his type. She's so flighty and obsessed with her hair and makeup. Blah...why am I even thinking about this and how do I even know his type! Maybe he likes flighty and vain girls...I need shock treatment... James Potter is not supposed to make me jealous with other girls... I shouldn't have even noticed.'

Lily set off for the castle fighting a private battle in her mind.

A few days later, James and Lily met with Dumbledore.

"Mr. Potter, Miss Evans- please take a seat. How is term going for you?" Dumbledore asked with a warm smile.

Both students returned the smile and answered,
"Great, sir."

"Now I asked you here because I will be making an announcement about an event at Christmas time. I will need you two to organize the event. I feel it will boost morale during these trying times. I will not tell you what exactly it is; however, it will be on December twenty third in the Great Hall at seven o'clock. Anyone fourth year and above may attend but are not required to. The theme will be a winter wonderland sort of thing and I will need you to organize some decorations. You will find out exactly what this event is at the Halloween Feast."

"Sir, why not tell us now? How are we to know what to decorate and with what themes?" James asked.

"You are both smart students, I am sure you have figured it out. I will not disclose any more information because you are still young and young people have a hard time keeping secrets. I do not wish to ruin the surprise. Good night."

"Good night sir," James and Lily said in unison as they left the Headmaster's office.

Lily smiled at James and said, "It's some sort of party or dance."

"Dance?" James asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Dance, ball whatever you call it. Muggle schools have them all the time. They aren't so bad really."

"If you say so!" James replied. "But any guy who isn't a ponce doesn't enjoy dances."

Lily rolled her eyes and made her way to bed.

Sure enough, at the Halloween Feast, Lily learned she was correct. Dumbledore announced that the school would be having a Christmas Ball. The girls throughout the school were alive with excitement. Most of the guys seemed interested in a chance to find dates with the beautiful girls around school, but only a few were actually looking forward to dancing. Lily decided right away that her light colored dress robes were not winter colored and she needed a new set straight away. She immediately owl ordered a golden colored robe. By the time mid- November came around, she had been asked to go with six different guys. She had still not given most of them an answer. She was waiting to see who else would ask.